Melodeon



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORANGE N. FRARY, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT.

MELODEON.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 11,479, dated August 8, 1854.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ORANGE N. FRARY, of Ansonia, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Melodeons; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the construction, character, andoperation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which make a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is aperspective View of a melodeon in miniature, showing two of the stops,Fig. 2, is a perspective View of the internal parts of the same, showing'the structure and arrangement of the improved parts.

My improvement consists in making the melodeon with two setsof reeds, ortwo stops, to be played by one bank, or set, of keys, while I am enabledto play both sets of reeds throughout, at the same time; or, both setsin either half of the key board, with either set single in the otherhalf; or either set, throughout, alone; or, the front set in eitherhalf, with the back set in the other half, at pleasure, by simplyvarying the stops, as their posit-ions indicate; and to effect all thisby means of an air tight wind chest, between the bello-ws and the reedboard, divided into four equal parts, and a valve in each separate part,in the partition between the wind chest and bellows.

I make the melodeon in any of the usual ways, with two sets of reeds,located in the common way, (as to the other parts of the 1nel`odeon,)and one set of keys, in the usual form, as shown in Fig. l, and I makethe bellows in the usual way, as shown at A, Fig. 2.

Under the reeds, I t an air-tight wind chest, divided into four parts,the lower partof which is shown in Fig. 2, and the upper part itsair-tight upon it, having tongues to :lit into all the spaces, a, a,&c., Fig. 2, to prevent leakage. In the lower part, in each division, Iit a valve, as seen at B, C, D, and E, Fig. 2, which, when desired,close the passages to the bellows, as seen in B, and E, or leave themopen, as seen in C, and D,

leaving a free passage` to ,the bellows, or vice versa, as shown at b,and c. These valves are pressed down by springs as shown at d, d, &c.,and in closing are gaged by blocks, e, e, &c., or otherwise. Thesevalves have bars, (with mortises,) attached to them, as seen at g, g,&c., and are opened, and closed, by means of levers, h, L, &c working onfulcrum pins, as at i, z', and when the melodeon is in order for use,the levers are worked by the jointed parts, or stops, 7c, 1c, le, and c,which will then appear as shown in Fig. l, where the back one, s,indicates that the valve is open, as shown at C, Fig. 2, and the frontone, 7c, Fig. l, indicates that the valve is shut, as at E, Fig. 2.

Having made, and fitted, t-he several parts, a's described, if I wish toplay on the two sets of reeds throughout, I draw out all the stops tothe position shown at, 73', Fig. l, when all the valves will be open, asshown at C, and D, F ig. 2. But if I wish to play on less than thewhole, I push in one, or more, of the stops to the posit-ion shown at7c, Fig. 1, when that one, or more of the valves, will be closed, asshown at B, and E, Fig. 2, so that B, and C, or D, and E, or B, and E,or D, and C, may be played to gether at pleasure, as also any three ofthem, without the trouble or expense of a double key board, or any otherof the complicated attachments of the double reeded melodeon, asheretofore used, which are so liable to get out of order, and diiiicultto repair.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The method of using two sets of reeds in a melodeon with one set ofkeys, in such manner as to combine any two, three, or all four, of theparts, (each part containing one half of a set of reeds,) at pleasure,by the aid of an air-tight wind chest, and four valves, when the wholeis constructed, arranged,.and made to operate, substantially, as hereindescribed.

ORANGE N. FRARY.

Witnesses:

I. STAOLIFF, R. FITZGERAID.

